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Copy 1 ession. j \ No. 113. 



I 



MESSAGE 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

. COMMUNICATING, 

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the $th instant, informa- 
tion in relation to the emancipation of slaves in Quia. 



July 14, 1870. — Head, ordered to lie oil the table aud be piinted. 



To the Senate of the United States : 

I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 8th 
instant, a report from the Secretary of State and the papers which 
accompanied it. 



U. S. GRANT. 



Washington, July 13, 1870. 



Department of State, 

Washington, July 13, 1870. 
The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution of the 
Senate of the 8th instant, requesting the President, if not incompatible 
with the public interest, to communicate to that body any information 
jn his possession relating to the emancipation of slaves in Cuba, has the 
honor to lay before the President the papers mentioned in the annexed 
list, which contain the information called for by the said resolution. 
Respectfully submitted. 

HAMILTON FISH. 
The President. 



List of accompanying papers. 

L—DJPLOMATIC PAPERS. 

No. 1. Mr. Fish to General Sickles, June 20, 18(30, No. 2, (Extract.) 
No. 2. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, August 12, 1800, No. 5, (Extract.) 
No. 3. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, August 20, 1860, (Telegram.) 
No. 4. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, August 21, 1860, No. 10, (Extract.) 
No. 5. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, September 16,. 1860, (Telegram. 
Extract.) 

No. 6. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, September 25, 1860, No. 22, (Ex- 
tract.) 



46771 . . ' 

2 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA, , \JL 

No. 7. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, November 3, 1869, No. 31, (Ex- 
tract.) 

No. 8. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, November 17, 18G9, No. 34, (Ex- 
tract.) 

No. 9. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, November 28, 1869, (Telegram.) 

No. 10. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, December 29, 1869, No. 46, (Ex- 
tract.) 

No. 11. Mr. Fish to General Sickles, January 26, 1870, No. 26, (Ex- 
tract.) 

No. 12. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, May 24, 1870, with an accompa- 
niment. 

No. 13. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, May 30, 1870, with accompani- 
ments 1 and 2. 

No. 14. Mr. Fish to General Sickles, June 20, 1870, No. 65, (Extract.) 

No. 15. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, June 26, 1870, No. 121, with 
accompaniments 1, 2 and 3. 

II.— CONSULAR AND OTHER PAPERS. 

No. 16. Mr. Hall to Mr. Seward, November 18, 1868, No. 82, (Extract.) 
No. 17. Mr. Hall to Mr. Washburn, March 11, 1869, No. 4, (Extract.) 
with an accompaniment. 

No. 18. Mr. Plumb to Mr. Fish, September 16, 1869, (Extract,) with an 
accompaniment. 
No. 19. Mr. Davis to Mr. Plumb, September 28, 1869, No. 46, (Extract.) 
No. 20. Mr. Plumb to Mr. Davis, October 21, 1869, No. 193, (Extract.) 
No. 21. Mr. Riddle to Mr. Davis, May 20, 1870, No. 122, with accom- 
paniments 1 and 2. 

No. 22. Extract from a letter to Mr. Davis, May 14, 1870. 



L—DIPLOMATIO CORRESPONDENCE. 

No. 1. 

Mr. Fish to General Sickles. 

[Extract.] 

No. 2.] June 29, 1869. 

The President therefore directs you to offer to the cabinet at Madrid 
the good offices of the United States for the purpose of bringing to a 
close the civil war now ravaging the Island of Cuba, on the following 
basis : 

1. The independence of Cuba to be acknowledged by Spain. 

2. Cuba to pay to Spain a sum, within a time and in a manner to be 
agreed upon by them, as an equivalent for the entire and definite relin- 
quishment by Spain of all her rights in that island, including the public 
property of every description. If Cuba should not be able to pay the 
whole sum at once in cash, the future payments, by installments, are to 
be adequately secured by a pledge of the export and import customs 
duties under an arrangement to be agreed upon for their collection, in 
trust, for the purpose of securing both the principal and interest of those 
installments until their final discharge. 

3. The abolition of slavery in the Island of Cuba. 

4. An armistice pending the negotiations for the settlement above re- 
ferred to. 



r 1 %-^ss/jb, 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 3 

:no. 2. 

General Sickles to Mr. Fish. — (Received August 31.) 

[Extract.] 

ISTo. 5.] Madrid, August 12, 1869. 

On Sunday, the day after my interview with the minister of state, I 
made the prescribed visit of ceremony to the president of the council 
of ministers, Marshal Prim, at his quarters in the war department- 
After the customary courtesies had been observed, and with the marshal's 
consent, which was frankly given, the subject of Cuba was introduced. 
I said I had an important communication from my government looking 
to a solution of the question, that I was anxious to present as soon as 
possible. He asked me if it was the same or substantially the same as 
the one Mr. Forbes had foreshadowed, to which I replied in the affirma- 
tive, when, with much animation and even warmth of manner, he pro- 
tested that Spain .would not entertain the suggestion of an armistice 
with the insurgents, nor consider the question of the independence of 
Cuba, while the insurgents were in arms against the government ; that 
Spain would grant a full and complete amnesty as soon as the insurgents 
laid down their arms ; and that being done, the whole subject would be 
open for consideration ; that he was disposed to meet the question 
frankly and" practically ; that perhaps he was somewhat in advance of 
the views of his colleagues, but he had no doubt they were unanimous 
in the hope that the influence of the United States might be successfully 
exerted to relieve the question from the embarrassment which now 
surrounded it. He added that, in regard to emancipation, Spain would 
prefer to leave that matter to the Cubans themselves, saying, " That is 
your glory in America, the reward of your philanthropy, and we do 
not wish to deprive you of it." 

I then sounded the marshal upon the proposal for a conference in 
Washington, in which Spain, the United States, and Cuba should be 
represented ; but to this he at once demurred, saying Cuba could only 
be heard here through her deputies elected to the Cortes; that Spain 
might treat with the United States, not with Cuba. 



No. 3. 
General Sickles to Mr. Fish. — (Received August 20.) 

[Telegram.] 

August 20, 1869. 
Long interview with president of council to-day. He said the first 
proposition of Spain was not a preliminary to an agreement with 
United States, but was a condition of concessions to the insurgents ; 
and that the third proposition was a condition of the independence of 
Cuba. I again urged acceptance on the basis proposed by the United 
States. He said that Spain desired the good offices of the United 
States, and was prepared to see Cuba free, but that the consent of Spain 
must be given in a manner consistent with her self-respect. He re- 
peated that an armistice with the insurgents was impossible; that eman- 
cipation of the slaves could not be separated from other questions now 



4 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

paramount; and that communication with the insurgents would be 
permitted after agreement with the United States. Shall report this 
conversation fully by mail to-day and Sunday. I regard it as essential 
to a correct appreciation of the views of Spain. 



No. 4. 
General Siolcles to Mr. Fish. — (Received September 7.) 

[Extract.] 

No. 10.] Madrid, August 21, i860. 

* * * # # * # 

In regard to the emancipation of slaves in Cuba it is quite probable 
that the disinclination of the Spanish cabinet to enter into engagements 
on the subject at present is attributable in part to the embarrassment 
such action would cause in Porto Rico, as well as in Cuba, where the 
slaveholders are generally the most influential partisans of the home 
government. 



General SieMes to Mr. Fish. — (Received September 16.) 
[Telegram.] 

September 10, 1869. 

Long interview Tuesday with foreign secretary ad interim. Notes of 

conversation subsequently exchanged. Am now able to send resume. 

* * "# # * * * 

Spain is ready at once to give Cuba ample reforms and widest liberties 
enjoyed in peninsula, also general amnesty and gradual emancipation 

of slaves. 



No. 6. 
General Sickle* to Mr. Fish.— (Received October 12.) 

No. 22.] Madrid, September 25, 1869. 

******* 

General Prim said that it was necessary to proceed gradually and 
surely. The government was now occupied with various decrees, car- 
rying its liberal policy into effect in Cuba. A decree would soon be 
issued initiating the gradual abolition of slavery, by giving freedom to 
all negroes born after date. The government would also soon announce 
a plan of administrative and municipal reform for Cuba. All this with- 
out waiting for the termination of the war. 

* ****** 



EMANCIPATION OP SLAVES IN CUBA. 5 

No. 7. 

General Sickles to Mr. Fish. — (Received November 17.) 

No. 31.] Madrid, November 3, 1859. 

******* 

The commission organized to prepare and report for the consideration 
of the Cortes a plan of administrative reform for the island of Porto Rico, 
of which I advised yon in my dispatch No. 19, has been dissolved. The 
Marquis de la Esperanza, one of the deputies of Porto Rico, and a mem- 
ber of the board, informed the secretary of this legation, Colonel Hay, 
that the commission was unable to agree upon any plan. The disagree- 
ment between the government and the provincial members included, 
among others, the questions of slavery, tariff, and taxation. The decree 
dissolving the commission, which appeared recently in the Gazette, as- 
signs as the reason for the measure, that the time limited for the sit- 
tings of the board has expired. I shall inform you of whatever else may 
transpire on this subject. It is probable the matter will soon be brought 
up in the Cortes by the deputies from Porto Rico. 



General Sickles to Mr. Fish. — (Received December 2.) 

No. 34. J Madrid, November 17, 1869. 

Mr. Becerra replied that already the government had given pledges 
of its sincerity, in the decree establishing freedom of worship ; that he 
and his colleagues had publicly declared they would proceed with the 
gradual abolition of slavery, and that reserving for the home govern- 
ment the regulation of purely national concerns, the Cubans^ should have 
as much control over their local affairs as is enjoyed by any Spanish 
province under the constitution. 



No. 9. 

General Sickles to Mr. Fish. — (Received November 28.) 

[Telegram.] 

Madrid, November 28, 1869. 

Dispatch mentioned in private letter not received. Nothing new 
about that matter. 

Am authorized by minister of colonies to inform you that government 
measures for Porto Rico will include local self government, free press, 
public schools, impartial suffrage, gradual but speedy abolition of 
slavery, civil and political rights, without distinction of color, domiciled 
foreigners to vote for town officers after six months' residence, and for 
members of provincial council after one year. And that these reforms 
will in good faith be extended to Cuba, when hostilities cease and depu- 
ties are chosen in compliance with article one hundred and eight of 
Spanish constitution. 



6 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

No. 10. 
General SicJcles to Mr. Fish. — (Received January 22.) 

No. 46.J Madrid, December 29, 1809. 

********** 

The British minister, Mr. Layard, informed me night before last that 
he had been instructed by Lord Clarendon to second my suggestions to 
this government in relation to the abolition of slavery in Cuba and Porto 
Rico. I replied that all I had said on the subject was unofficial, and so 
understood by the cabinet; that I had furnished the colonial secretary 
with a memorandum of the history and results of emancipation in the 
United States, and had otherwise endeavored to fortify his apparent 
disposition to deal with the question of colonial reform in a large and 
liberal sense; that I was, however, rather discouraged by the procras- 
tination of the committee of the Cortes, and of the secretary himself, 
who seemed, after all, inclined to yield to the representations of the re- 
actionists. Mr. Layard said he had spoken to Mr. Martos on the subject, 
who had remarked that the government could do nothing in the way of 
reform or enfranchisement for Cuba while the rebellion was flagrant, 
without alienating the Spanish party in the island; but that changes of 
administration in Porto Rico would be radical, and would probably in- 
clude a measure for the gradual abolition of slavery. 

If this be done, the peninsular party in Cuba will have fewer motives 
to resist the independence of the island; for with slavery abolished in 
Porto Rico, there would remain little hope of perpetuating it in Cuba. 
Administrative and social reforms once established in the Antilles, the 
Spanish element in the islands — that is to say, a portion of the slave- 
holders and the persons employed in the colonial administration — would 
have neither the disposition nor the means to resist much longer the 
realization of the wishes of a great majority of the people of Cuba and 
Porto Rico. * * * * # # # 



No. 11. 

Mr. Fish to General SicJcles. 

No. 26.] Washington, January 2<3, 1870. 

********** 

In your interview with Mr. Layard, I notice that, to his statement 
that he had been instructed by Lord Clarendon to second your sugges- 
tion to the Spanish government in relation to the abolition of slavery, 
you replied that all you have said upon the subject had been unofficial. 
This naturally causes some suppose in this department, where, from the 
commencement and through all the stages of negotiations and corre- 
spondence, the instructions to make the abolition of slavery a sine qua 
non have been given in the most positive manner. 

It is not to be supposed that your remark to Mr. Layard was intended 
in the broad sense in which it may be interpreted, as implying an ab- 
sence of instructions from the department on this important subject. 
If, when the offer of our good offices was withdrawn, you were not in- 
structed to continue to urge the question of abolition, it was because 
your dispatches indicated that the Spanish cabinet were not then in a 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 7 

mood to listen to suggestions from Washington. I have regarded it, 
and still regard it, as your duty under your existing instructions, at all 
times, whenever in your judgment a fitting opportunity offers, to do all 
in your power to secure complete emancipation not only in Cuba but 
also in Porto Eico. 

It becomes more apparent every day that this contest cannot termi- 
nate without the abolition of slavery. This government regards the 
government at Madrid as committed to that result. You have several 
times received positive assurances to that effect from more than one 
member of that cabinet. They have also promised large and liberal re- 
forms in the Spanish colonial policy. As late as the 3d of December 
last, the foreign minister thought these promises of enough importance 
to make them the subject of a cable telegram. 

You will, therefore, if it shall appear that the insurrection is regarded 
as suppressed, frankly state that this government, relying upon the as- 
surances so often given, will expect steps to be taken for the emancipa- 
tion of the slaves in the Spanish colonies, as well as for the early initia- 
tion of the promised reforms, and you will then communicate to Mr.. 
Layard the fact that you have done so. 



No, 12. 
General Sickles to Mr. Fish. — (Received June 10.) 

No. 114.] 31ADKIB, May 24, 1870. 

I inclose the text of the proposed constitution for Porto Pico, as pre- 
sented by the committee to which it was recommitted on the retirement 
of Mr. Becerra, amended according to the suggestions of Mr. Moret, his 
successor in the ministry of the colonies. It is placed upon the order 
of the day, but it is impossible to say when it will be reached. I send 
also herewith an official copy of the constitution of Spain, to which 
several references are made in the plan of government for Porto Rico. 

Mr. Baldorioty de Castra, the newly elected liberal member for Porto 
Rico, yesterday introduced a resolution asking that this bill should be 
called up for immediate discussion. He made a very able and temperate 
argument in favor of his proposition, setting forth the absolute necessity 
of some fixed law to govern the island, mentioning several incidents of 
the present reign of arbitrary caprice, and making earnest reference to 
the pressing need of some attention to the question of slavery. 

The minister of the colonies replied evasively that the insurrection in 
Cuba had at first prevented action in this matter, and that the discussion 
of the organic laws for the peninsula had still further delayed it; that, 
while the government did not intend to abandon or postpone their plan 
of reform, they must oppose the proposition of Mr. Baldorioty as im- 
plying a censure upon the presidency of the chamber. 

After a somewhat violent scene between Mr. Figueras (republican) 
and Mr. Romero Robledo, (Union liberal,) in which they called each 
other respectively "filibusters" and "Alfonsists," Mr. Baldorioty with- 
drew his proposition, satisfied with having made known in the chamber 
the voice of complaint of the island. 

You will observe, I am sure, with regret that the proposed constitution 
not only fails to make any provision for the abolition of slavery, either 
by the local or general government, but even forbids the public discus- 



8 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

sion of the subject in the island. The measure betrays distrust of the 
loyalty of the population, an unwillingness to allow the inhabitants any 
control in the administration of the island or in the development of its 
abundant resources, and the strange tenacity with which liberal Spanish 
statesmen cliug to the fatal errors of colonial policy that have alienated, 
one after another, so many of their Spanish-American possessions from 
the mother country. 

You will notice, for example, that a very large measure of authority 
is given to the Captain General, appointed by the Crown: that to the 
Cortes is reserved the right to fix the sum of money to be raised an- 
nually in the island, and to collect and appropriate all the money raised; 
that an act of sedition authorizes the government to suspend all per- 
sonal rights enjoyed by the inhabitants under the constitution, and to 
establish military authority over the island; that no provincial militia 
can be organized without the permission of the home government; that 
in certain cases the acts of the provincial legislature may be suspended 
by the royal governor; that by his delegates in the towns he may sus- 
pend the ordinances of the municipal councils; that the acts of the 
provincial deputies, concerning so much of the government of the island 
as they are permitted to have a voice in, will not be valid without the 
approval of the Cortes, but may go into operation after the expiration 
of a year, if not disapproved; and that at any time the royal governor 
may send away to Spain all persons whose presence in the island he 
may consider dangerous to public order. 

It seems, therefore, that although Porto Rico is declared to be a prov- 
ince of the Spanish monarchy, entitled to representation in the Cortes, 
it is proposed to continue substantially the old system of rule over the 
island, altogether exceptional with respect to the constitution of Spain, 
and not likely to satisfy any American community. It remains to be 
seen whether even this meager installment of all that this cabinet have 
professed their willingness to do for their American colonies will be 
made good; for, however earnest may be the wish of ministers to pass 
the measure, I fear the present session of the Cortes is too near its end 
to afford much hope of action on colonial matters. I shall take an early 
opportunity to renew my representations to the president of the council 
on the subject, and especially with reference to the slavery question, 
about which nothing whatever has yet been done, although so much 
was promised. 



[Inclositre in Xo. 12.] 
Plan of a law for a constitution for the Island of Porto Rico, neicly drawn up by the Committee 

TITLE I. 

Article 1. The island of St. John of Porto Rico, which forms a part of the national, 
territory, is considered as a province of the Spanish monarchy. 

Art. 2. Spaniards residing in Porto Rico enjoy the same rights as those laid down 
in the constitution promulgated by the Cortes Constituyentes, June 1, 1889, in its Title 
I, without any limitations save those provided for in this law. 

Art. 3. The other provisions contained in said constitution, and relative to the or- 
ganization of powers, are applicable in the same manner as those laid down in this 
law, without any further modifications respecting exercise of the same. 

Art. 4. The government of the island, and its relations with the metropolis, shall be 
organized according to the present law, and to those which may hereafter be passed 
by the Cortes, which can. in no case, alter the constitutional articles, save in accord- 
ance with article 110. 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. { J 

TITLE II. 

Aim. 5. The territory of the island shall be organized into ayuntamientos,* or town 
governments, which shall be established in every centre, of population. Their powers 
shall be the same as those indicated in the law passed by the Cortes, and shall be ad- 
justed on the bases laid down in Title VIII of the constitution. 

Art. 6. There shall be a provincial deputation for the whole island. Its powers, 
beside those laid down in Title VIII of the constitution, shall be amplified by the laAA r , 
on the following basis : 

1. Power to take cognizance, when appealed to, of such municipal decrees as may 
not be, in themselves, executive. 

2. Cognizance of everything relating to the choice and suspension of the ayuntami- 
entos. 

3. Power to discuss aud propose to the superior local authority, and through it to 
the central government, in the form of a petition, anything which they may deem con- 
ducive to the interests of the island, and Avhich may not be specially defined among 
their powers. This right shall never extend to political questions. 

4. To propose to the superior local authority the individuals who are to discharge 
the duties appertaining to the cathedral clergy of the island. 

5. The right to be consulted for the laying of general taxes, for the modification of 
those existing, and for any other measure of a financial character which the superior 
authority may see fit to propose. 

6. Power to propose to the superior local authority the modification of any tax. 

7. Power to make general regulations, to be obligatory throughout the island. 

These measures shall not be valid until they shall have been approved by the Cor- 
tes. If one year elapse without their having been approved by the Cortes, they thereby 
become valid. 

8. All other powers laid down in the provincial organic law for the deputations of 
the Peninsula. - 

Art. 7. It is the duty of the municipal authorities and of the deputation respectively 
to provide for the support of the Catholic religion and of its ministers. 

TITLE III. 
REPRESENTATION OK THE COUNTRY. 

Art. 8. The island of Porto Rico shall send deputies to the Cortes, chosen in the pro- 
portion fixed lor the peninsula. 

Art. 9. The island of Porto Rico shall send to the Cortes a number of senators equal 
to that which each province has a right to send, according to article 61 of the consti- 
tution. To this effect, the electoral body of each municipal district shall choose a 
number of referees, equal to one-sixth of the members who are to compose its ayunta- 
miento. 

Art. 10. The ayuntamientos, the deputations, the deputies to the Cortes, and the 
referees for the appointment of senators, shall be chosen by those who are able to read 
aud write, or who pay $8 in direct taxes. 

Art. 11. The Cortes shall make a yearly estimate of the expenses of the island of 
Porto Rico, and of the entire sum to be received as revenue. These estimates shall be 
presented on the same terms and drawn up in the same manner as specified in Title 
IX of the constitution ; but when the Cortes meet, on the 1st of February, the estimates 
must be presented before the 1st of April. 

TITLE IV. 

GOVERNMENT OE THE ISLAND. 

Art. 12. The central power shall be exercised through the medium of civil authori- 
ties, which may send their delegates to any point in the territory to which they may 
see fit. 

Art. 13. In cases of sedition or invasion of the territory the civil authority, after 
having convoked the junta, or board, of authorities, shall resign the command to the 
military, making an immediate report to the government. In this case all guarantees 
provided in Title I of the constitution shall be suspended. 

Art. 14. The military authority shall not prolong its authority beyond the time 
necessary to re-establish material tranquility. The board (juuta) of authorities, which 
shall remain in session in the case referred to by the foregoing article, may demand 
the re-establishment of the civil aud judicial authority, and then the responsibility of 
anything that may happen shall rest with the military authority. 

Art. 15. Iu all other cases in which tranquility may be disturbed, the civil authority 
may employ force in the manner prescribed by law. 

* The ayuntamiento is composed of a corregidor, or alcalde, and regidores ; the former correspond 
iug to a mayor, and the latter to aldermen. 



10 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

Art. 16. When a state of disturbance is to be feared in" the island, the authorities 
will proceed iu accordance with article 31 of the constitution ; but the civil authority 
may, on its own responsibility, send to the Peninsula such persons as it may consider 
dangeroxis to public order. 

Art. 17. It is the province of the central power, through the agency of its delegates — 

First. To suspend the decrees of the ayuutamientos in the cases provided by law, 
reporting to the provincial deputation. In cases of crime, it shall immediately submit 
them to the tribunals. 

Second. To suspend any association which may be in the case specified in paragraph 
3 of article 19 of the constitution, giving a heariug to the junta of authorities, and 
reporting to the central government, to the end that the provisions of said articles be 
obeyed, if it shall so see tit. 

Third. To suspend or close any educational establishment which may be in the case 
indicated in paragraph 3 of the said article 19. In this case it shall immediately de- 
liver up the responsible persons to the courts. 

Fourth. To preside without a vote, save in the case of a tie, over the provincial 
deputation. 

Fifth. To convoke said deputation whenever it may think proper, without detri- 
ment to the powers which the law grants to said deputation to assemble. 

Sixth. To appoint, by itself, ayuutamientos, either in whol'3 or in part, and in like 
manner the deputation, in cases when, for any cause, said bodies fail to assemble, or 
do not assemble iu sufficient numbers for the transaction of business. In these cases 
members or provincial deputies only may be appointed, having, respectively, the char- 
acter of electors. 

Seventh. To perform, when necessary, municipal duties, discharging the functions 
belonging to the ayuutamientos, in case of a refusal to do so on the part of the latter. 
In this case a report shall always be made to the deputation. 

Eighth. To collect, always, and iu all cases, the general taxes going to make up the 
estimated revenue. 

Ninth. To have control of the public force. 

Tenth. No local force shall be established, except by consent of the central power. 

Eleventh. To suspend the decrees of the provincial deputation in the cases provided 
for by the law. 

Twelfth. To maintain the safety and integrity of the island, taking care that the 
laws be executed, and that the rights of the people be respected. 

Thirteenth. To possess all other powers granted by the constitution to the execu- 
tive power. 

TITLE V. 

PROVISIONAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

Art. 18. The government shall make the arrangements necessary to place the con- 
stitution on the basis laid down in this law. These arrangements, of which a report 
will be made to the Cortes on their first meeting, shall be considered as provisional 
until the vote of the representatives of the nation shall have been given upon them. 

Art. 19. In order to put this law into execution, steps shall be taken, in the first 
place, to organize the ayuutamientos and the provincial deputation. 

Art. 20. The rights guaranteed by the present constitution shall not be applicable 
to individuals who are in a state of servitude, who shall not be permitted to exercise 
them until six years after having acquired their liberty by any of the means provided 
by law. 

Art. 21. It shall not be lawful to engage in any public discussion by any of the 
means mentioned in the first paragraph of article 17 of the constitution, which may 
relate to a separation of the island of Porto Rico from the mother country, or to the 
integrity of the Spanish territory. Likewise, so long as the state of slavery shall exist, 
all public discussion relating thereto is prohibited. 

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES. 

Art. 22. The amounts fixed by article 8 of the constitution as indemnifications shall 
be understood iu Porto Rico as doubled. 

Art. 23. The powers and duties specified in the constitution as belonging to any one 
of the ministers shall always be understood as belonging to the minister of the colo- 
nies iu Porto Rican affairs. 



Palace of the Cortes, May 5, 1870. 



The Marquis op Sardoal, Secretary. 



MANUEL VALDES LINARES, 

President. 
JUAN A. HERNANDEZ ARBIZU. 
VICENTE ROMERO GIRON. 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 11 

No. 13. 
General Sickles to Mr. Fish. — (Received June 15.) 

No. 116.] Madrid, May 30, 1870. 

I have the honor to transmit an official copy of the bill for the aboli- 
tion of slavery presented to the Cortes on the 28th instant by the minis- 
ter of the colonies. I also inclose a translation of a short debate that 
occurred on the same day in relation to the reported emancipation de- 
cree of the Captain General of Cuba, of which it seems the government 
had no information. 

Mr. Padial and several of his colleagues from Porto Rico, with whom 
Mr. Castelar associated himself, notified the government a fews days ago 
of an interpellation on the slavery question, and this bill, which is said 
to have been prepared some time since, was no doubt introduced to 
forestall the discussion. 

The project of the .minister of the colonies is shaped to suit the views 
of the slaveholders, whose organs and agents express themselves pleased 
with the moderation and prudence of the measure. 



[Inelosure 1 in No. 13.] 
Extract from report of the session of May 28, 1870. 

Mr. Padial. I have read in a telegram from Havana that the Captain General of Cuha 
has published a circular declaring the slaves of the insurgents emancipated, and I wish 
to know if that officer has made this disposition by his own initiative or by order of 
the government. I also desire to know if the word emancipation is to be tinder- 
stood in its wide sense ; that is to say, giving to the slave his civil rights, or, as it is 
understood in that country, passing the freedmen to a worse condition ; hecause in that 
case it would result in the distribution of the confiscated chattels among the Cuban 
volunteers. At the same time I would recpiest that the government would transmit to 
the chamber, if there is no objection, the notes exchanged with the authorities of Cuba 
and Porto Rico iu regard to reforms in the Antilles. 

The Minister of Ultramar. The government had no other advices of what Mr. 
Padial refers to than the telegram published iu the newspapers, and cannot, conse- 
quently, speak with certainty in regard to it without further information. But if the 
gentleman wishes to know the opinion of the government on the question of slavery, 
he will be satisfied with the reading of the bill which I shall shortly have the honor 
to submit to the chamber. 

The Minister of State. There is no objection to submitting the correspondence 
exchanged with the authorities of Cuba and Porto Rico with respect to the colonial 
question. 

Later in the same day the minister of the colonies presented the inclosed bill for the 
abolition of slavery. 



[Enclosure 2 in No. 13.] 
PLAN OF A LAW. 

Article 1. All children of slave mothers, born after the publication of this law, are 
declared free. 

Art. 2. All slaves born between the 18th of September, 1868, and the time of the 
publication of this law, are acquired bj^ the State, by the payment to their owners of 
the sum of fifty escudos.* 

Art. 3. All slaves who have served under the Spanish flag, or who have in any way 
aided the troops during the present insurrection in Cuba, are declared free. The State 
shall pay their value to their masters, if the latter have remained faithful to the Span- 
. ish cause ; if belonging to the insurgents, they shall receive no indemnity. 

* Twenty -fire dollars, probably. 



12 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

Art. 4. Slaves who, at the time of the publication of this law, shall have attained 
the age of sixty-five years, are declared free, without any indemnification to their 
owners. The same benefit shall be enjoyed by those who shall hereafter reach this age. 

Art. 5. All slaves belonging to the State,' either as emancipated, or for any other 
cause, shall at ouce enter upon the full exercise of their civil rights. 

Art. 6. Those persons freed by this law, who are mentioned in articles one and two, 
shall remain under the control (patronato) of the owners of the mother. 

Art. 7. The control referred to in the foregoing article imposes upon the person 
exercising it the obligation to maintain his wards, to clothe them, care for them in 
sickness, give them primary instruction, and the education necessary to carry on an 
art or trade. The person exercising the aforesaid control acquires all the rights of a 
guardian, and may, moreover, enjoy the benefit of the labor of the freedman without 
making any compensation until said freedman has reached the age of eighteen years. 

Art. 8. When the freedman has reached the age of eighteen years, he shall receive 
half the wages of a free man. Of these wages one-half shall be paid to him at once, 
and the other half shall be reserved in order to form a capital for him, in the manner 
to be determined by subsequent regulations. 

Akt. 9. On attaining the age of twenty-two years, the freedman shall acquire the full 
enjoyment. of his civil rights, and his capital shall be paid to him. 

Art. 10. The above-mentioned control is transmissible by all means known in law r . 
Legitimate or natural pareuts,-who are free, may claim control over their children on 
paying to the person already exercising such control an indemnification for the expenses 
incurred in favor of the freed person. Subsequent regulations will settle the basis of 
this indemnification. 

Art. 11. The superior civil governor shall form, in the space of one year from the 
publication of this law, lists of the slaves comprised in articles two and five. 

Art. 12. The freed persons mentioned in the foregoing article remain under the con- 
trol of the State. This control is confined to protecting them, defending them, and 
furnishing them the means of gaining a livelihood. Those who may prefer to return 
to Africa shall be conveyed thither. 

Art. 13. The slaves referred to in article four may remain with their oAvuers, who 
shall thus acquire control over them. When they shall have preferred to continue 
with their former masters, it shall be optional with the latter to give them compensa- 
tion or not ; but in all cases, as well as in that of the freed persons being unable to 
maintain themselves by reason of physical disability, it shall be the duty of said former 
masters to feed them, clothe them, and care for them in sickness. This duty shall be a 
concomitant of the right to employ them in labors suitable to their condition. 

Art. 14. If the freedman, of his own free will, shall leave the control of his former 
master, the latter shall no longer be under the obligations mentioned in the foregoing 
article. 

Art. 15. The government shall provide the means necessary for the indemnifications 
made necessary by the present law, by meaus of a tax upon those still remaining in 
slavery. 

Art. 16. Any concealment impeding the application of the benefits of this law shall 
be punished according to title thirteen of the penal code. 

Art. 17. A census of slaves shall be taken, and any one not appearing therein enrolled 
shall be declared free. 

Art. 18. The government shall make a special regulation for the execution of this 
law. 

Art. 19. The government is authorized to take all such measures as it may deem 
necessary in order to cause the emancipation of persons remaining in servitude after 
this law shall have taken effect, reporting, at the proper time, to the Cortes. 

Madrid, May 28, 1870. 

The Minister of the Colonies, 
SEGISMUNDO MORET Y PRENDERGAST. 



No. 14. 

Mr. Fish to General Sickles. 

No. 05.] Washington, June 20, 1870. 

I have received your No. 110, relative to the plan proposed by the 
cabinet of Madrid for the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. This 
plan falls far short of what this government had a reasonable right to 
expect. Our advances for this object were met by the Spanish govern- 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 13 

merit, from the commencement, with a temper and spirit that manifested 
a desire to cordially co-operate with us in the extirpation of this blot 
upon the civilization of America. 

In the very beginning of your negotiation last year, when you verbally 
communicated to different members of the Spanish cabinet the bases 
on which you were authorized to proffer the good offices of the United 
States, no exception was taken to the demand for emancipation, nor 
was it objected to during the whole negotiation, although it is true that 
that government manifested a disposition to treat first of its relations 
with the insurgents. On the 14th of September last Mr. Beccerra 
assured you that the government and Cortes would devise a scheme for 
the gradual and entire abolition of slavery; and on the 17th of jSToveui- 
ber you again received the same positive assurance, while the whole 
tenor of the correspondence and conversations between you and the 
Spanish government and the different members of the cabinet commits 
that government to the inauguration of measures aiming at the abolition 
of slavery in the island of Cuba. 

Thus it was that in January last, having received an intimation that 
it was supposed in Madrid that the insurrection was, or soon would be, 
quelled, I wrote to you in my jSTo. 26 thus: 

It becomes more apparent every day that this contest caunot be terminated without 
the abolition of slavery. This government regards the government at Madrid as com- 
mitted to that result. *'. * ■• " * " You will, therefore, if it shall 'appear that 
the insurrection is regarded as suppressed, frankly state that this government, relying 
upon the assurances so often given, will expect steps to be taken for the emancipation 
of the slaves in the Spanish colonies. 

It is with regret that we fail to find in the scheme of emancipation, 
which is forwarded in your Xo. 110, evidence of the earnest purpose to 
abolish slavery, for which your previous dispatches had prepared us. 
It may rather be called a project for relieving the slave owners from 
the necessity of supporting infants and aged slaves, who can only be a 
burden, and of prolonging the institution as to able-bodied slaves. 

All the children of slave mothers born after the decree are to be free, 
but no pro vision is made for their support. 

All slaves born between the 18th of September, 1868, and the publi- 
cation of the decree may free themselves on their payment of $50; but 
it will be seen how delusive this is, when we reflect that to command 
that sum all of the early and some of the best years of their lives must 
be spent in servitude. 

And lastly, all slaves who reach the age of sixty-five years, when the 
powers of labor are going, and when they may be supposed to have 
earned some right to a support in their few remaining years, are to be 
turned adrift and are given a freedom that may have ceased to be de- 
sirable. 

While this project does not meet the expectations which this govern- 
ment had formed, I can scarcely believe that it will command the sup- 
port of the liberals of Spain, under whose auspices the revolution of 
1868 was made. The total emancipation which it contemplates is post- 
poned far toward the middle of the next century; and, in the ordinary 
course of events, this century will have nearly expired before any ma- 
terial impression will have been made upon the status of the existing 
laboring class on the island. 

The President feels it to be the duty of this government to endeavor 
to impress upon the Spanish cabinet the policy as well as the propriety of 
making at once provisions for an earlier and more thorough emancipation 
of slaves. You will state, in a friendly but decided manner, that this 
government is disappointed in this project ; that it fails to meet the ex- 



14 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

pectations that liacl beeu raised by the various conversations with you 5 
that in the opinion of the President it will produce dissatisfaction 
throughout the civilized world, which is looking to see liberty as the 
universal law of labor ; that it will fail to satisfy or to pacify Cuba ; 
that peace, if restored there, can be maintained only by force so long- 
as slavery exists, and that our proximity to that island, and our inti- 
mate relations with it, give us a deep interest in its welfare and justify 
the expression of our earnest desire to see prevail the policy which we 
believe calculated to restore peace and to give permanent prosperity. 

If, however, your representations shall fail to secure the desired modi- 
fications, we shall nevertheless regard this as the entering wedge for 
the eventual destruction of a pernicious system of labor, and shall hope 
that Spain will soon see that it is for her interest to go further and 
faster in the direction of emancipation, and of a wiser and juster sys- 
tem of the relations of labor to capital. 



No. 15. 
General Siclcles to Mr. Fish. — (Received July 12.) 

No. 121.] Madkid, June 20, 1870. 

The bill for the emancipation of certain classes of slaves in the Span- 
ish colonies became a law on the 23d instant, the last day of the session 
of the Cortes. Although regarded by the republican press and several 
ministerial journals as an inadequate measure, it was opposed by a por- 
tion, at least, of the slaveholders and their partizans, on the ground that 
any legislation on the subject was premature in the absence of deputies 
from Cuba, and dangerous to the cause of Spain while the war of inde- 
pendence was still undetermined. In this there was a sudden change of 
tactics by the representatives of this interest. At the outset they ap- 
plauded the scheme as discriminating and prudent, and commended the 
minister for his discretion in rejecting the more radical and comprehen- 
sive programme contemplated by his predecessor. Supported with ap- 
parent hesitation by the government, the bill passed substantially as it 
was proposed by the colonial secretary. I shall forward to the depart- 
ment a copy of the law as soon as it appears in the official gazette. 

Among the amendments adopted is one changing from sixty-five to 
sixty years the age to be attained when those born before September, 
1868, become free; another forbids the sale or separation from the 
mother of children under fourteen years old, and puts certain restric- 
tions on punishment with the lash. The latter was suggested by Mr. 
Gabriel Rodriguez, a republican deputy, and after an animated dis- 
cussion, in which the displeasure of the chamber was signally mani- 
fested toward a defense of the whipping post attempted by Mr. Plaja, 
a deputy from Porto Pico, this humane proposition was accepted in 
substance by the government and adopted without a division. 

Section 19 of the original project authorized the executive at any time 
to abolish slavery. For this Mr. Canovas del Castillo, a distinguished 
conservative deputy and partizan of the late dynasty, proposed a sub- 
stitute requiring the government, when Cuba shall be represented in 
the Cortes, to submit to the chamber a plan of gradual emancipation 
and providing for compensation to owners. This substitute, omitting 
the word " gradual," was accepted by the government and adopted. 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 15 

MM. Padial and Baldorioty, of Porto Kieo, joined the leading repub- 
lican deputies in proposing - an amendment emancipating all slaves 
within the Spanish dominions on the 1st of January, 1872. Their prop- 
osition was supported by Senor Castelar in a brilliant speech, from 
which I send you enclosed herewith an interesting extract, admirably 
translated by the secretary of this legation, Colonel Hay. This amend- 
ment was opposed by the minister of the colonies in an elaborate argu- 
ment, and was defeated by only thirty votes. 

The government found itself somewhat embarrassed in the general 
discussion by the repeated public declaration of nearly all the promi- 
nent personages who took part in the Spanish revolution of 1868, in 
favor of immediate and unconditional emancipation. And on the 19th 
iSTovember, 1SG8, two of the present cabinet, including the minister of 
the colonies, the members of the Spanish Anti-Slavery Society, in a 
published address to the nation, pledged their inflexible support to the 
immediate abolition of slavery. 

I have not considered it expedient to make any observations to this 
Cabinet on this scheme. 1 could not commend it as satisfactory, be 
cause it was far from being as comprehensive a measure as was prom- 
ised me last autumn, before the commencement of the recent campaign 
in Cuba, and when this government so anxiously deprecated any action 
on the part of the United States that might help the insurgents. Yet 
when it became apparent that the slave-holders would employ all their 
formidable influence against even this partial and preparatory project, 
I was reluctant to express the disappointment with which I was quite 
sure you must regard it, lest 1 might strengthen the hands of the oppo 
nents of emancipation by remonstrances which perhaps would have in- 
clined the government to desist from pressing a bill that failed to con- 
ciliate the United States and was offensive to the most zealous and in- 
fluential adherents of the Spanish cause in Cuba. Therefore, while 
maintaining a strict official reserve on the subject of the proposed law, 
I lost no proper occasion to encourage the efforts of the friends of 
emancipation to make sure of this measure, which at least is " the be- 
ginning of the end." This government has now for the first time dis- 
tinctly and practically committed itself to the policy of emancipation, 
and, in this step toward freedom, it must be a source of just satisfaction 
to the President that the influence of the United States has been con- 
spicuous and beniflcent. 

The formal declaration by Spain of the policy of emancipation in her 
colonies cannot fail to exert a considerable influence upon the struggle 
for independence. In this opinion I am supported by the views of many 
intelligent Cuban exiles now residing in Madrid, of whom it is only 
just to state that although sugar planters and holding large possessions 
in lands and negroes, they have labored here with diligence ar.d zeal in 
favor of the immediate abolition of slavery. I learn, indeed, upon good 
authority, that the general testimony of these exiles in favor of eman- 
cipation, considered with relation to their presumed sympathies with 
the insurgents, and their known desire to see Cuba under the American 
flag, had great influence in narrowing the scheme of the government to 
the least possible proportions. Spain found herself in this dilemma — 
to refuse any measure of emancipation was to break the most solemn 
engagements to the United States, and perhaps incline that govern- 
ment more to the cause of the insurgents, while in committing herself 
to the abolition of slavery she associates herself with her enemies in 
Cuba and gave offense to her most trusted partisans. 

I may venture the remark that, at the outset, the issue of the war 



16 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

was in the hands of the party that proclaimed emancipation to the 
slaves, and gave civil and political rights and arms to the freedmen. 
Of course this could not have been done by Spain without making* at 
the same time large political concessions to the white and free colored 
population of Cuba, for they had no share or voice in the government 
of the island, and were not allowed to bear arms. And when the in- 
surrection began, opinion was so divided among the insurgents on the 
question of slavery that the earliest and strongest impulse of the move- 
ment, that Avhich followed the revolution in Spain, was almost spent be- 
fore the influence of Cespedes prevailed in the insurgent councils and 
emancipation was proclaimed. Formerly, when the insurrectionary party 
in Cuba were the allies of the £>ro-slavery party in the United States, 
the most powerful weapon in the hands of Spain was the proclamation 
of emancipation that was said to be always ready in the portfolio of the 
Captain General, to be signed and promulgated in the event of a rising 
too general to be successfully resisted. It was then said that when 
Cuba ceased to be Spanish she would be African — never American — for 
it was supposed that the freedmen, in grateful recognition of this lib- 
erty at the hands of Spain, would resent the innumerable wrongs of 
their servitude upon the Cubans. 

But all this changed after our war, when so large a portion of the 
Cuban population yielded to the inevitable force of the example of the 
United States, and accepted the abolition of slavery as the indispensable 
condition of their unchanged desire for annexation to the American 
Union. From the moment of Lee's surrender the old Spanish threat of 
emancipation lost its terrors; most of the discontented Cubans became 
abolitionists, and Spain, governed by the most advanced statesmen wiio 
have ever held power in Madrid, has appeared to regard all that re- 
mains of her dominion in America to be inseparable from the institution 
of slavery. 



Ilaclosure 1 in Xo. 121. J 

Extract from the speech of Mr. Castelar in the Constituent Cortes, on the bill for ikt aboli- 
tion of slavery, June 20, 1870. 

I wish to present you another example of a decided purpose to accomplish gradual 
abolition, which was forced to conclude by immediate abolition. I refer to the exam- 
ple of America. * The Puritans are the patriarchs of liberty: they 
opened a new world on the earth ; they opened a new path for the human conscience ; 
they created a new society. " Nevertheless, when England tried to subdue them, and 
they conquered, the republic triumphed and slavery remained. Washington could 
only emancipate his slaves. Franklin said that the Virginians could not invoke the 
name of God, retaining slavery. Jay said that all the prayers America, sent up to 
heaven for the preservation of liberty, while slavery continued, were mere blasphemies. 
Mason mourned over the payment his descendants must make for this great crime of 
their fathers. Jefferson traced the line where the black wave of slavery should be 
stayed. Still slavery increased, increased continually. I beg that you will pause a 
moment to consider the man who wiped out this terrible stain which blotted out the 
stars of the American banner. I beg that you will pause a moment, for his immortal 
name has been invoked here for the perpetuation of slavery. Ah ! the past century 
has not, the century to come will not, have a figure so grand, because as evil disap- 
pears, heroism disappears also. I have often contemplated and described his life. 
Born in a cabin of Kentucky, of parents who could hardly read ; born a new Moses, in 
the solitude of the wilderness, where all great and obstinate thoughts are forged, mo- 
notonous like the desert, and like the desert sublime ; growing up among those prime- 
val forests, which, with their fragrance, send a cloud of incense, and with their mur- 
murs a cloud of prayers to heaven ; a boatman at eight years in the impetuous current 
of the Ohio, and at seventeen in the vast and tranquil waters of the Mississippi ; later, 
a woodman, with axe and arm felling the immemorial trees to open a way. to unex- 
plored regions for his tribe of wandering workers; reading no other book than the 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 17 

Bible, the book of great sorrows and great hopes, dictated often by prophets to the sound 
of chains they dragged through Nineveh and Babylon ; a child of nature, in a word, by 
one of those miracles only comprehensible among free people, he was raised by his 
fellow-citizens to the Congress at Washington, and by the nation to the Presidency of 
the republic ; and when the evil grew more virulent, when those States were dissolved, 
when the slaveholders uttered their war cry, and the slaves their groans of despair, 
the wood-cutter, the boatman, the son of the great West, the descendant of Quakers, 
humblest of the humble before his conscience, greatest of the great before history, 
ascends the Capitol, the greatest moral height of our time, and strong and serene, with 
his conscience and his idea, before him a veteran army, hostile Europe behind him, 
England favoring the South, France fostering reaction in Mexico, in his hands the 
riven country, he arms two millions of men, gathers a half million of horses, sends his 
artillery twelve hundred miles in seven days from the shores of the Potomac to the 
banks of the Tennessee, lights more than six hundred battles, renews before Richmond 
the exploits of Alexander, of Caesar; and, after emancipating three million slaves, that 
nothing might be wanting, he dies in the very moment of victory, like Christ, like 
Socrates, like all redeemers, at the foot of his work. Sublime achievement, over which 
humanity shall eternally shed its tears, and God his benedictions ! But Lincoln, you 
will tell me, attempted gradual emancipation. This is true. I never evade the truth. 
But the privileged classes shut their eyes and opposed it, as they shut their eyes here 
and oppose every profound and radical reform. And immediate abolition came. When 
a man of the wisdom and political prudence of Abraham Lincoln appealed to supreme 
measures, it was because he was convinced that all hope of compromise was gone, that 
gradual steps are impracticable in reforms demanded by justice and humanity. Since 
then, the United States having converted their slaves into men, have devoted them- 
selves to converting those men into citizens. 

And to-day, gentlemen, those beings who were formerly not even meu, are freer than 
the first of the sons of Europe. Those men who could not learn to read, because the 
Southern gentlemen murdered any one who would dare to give them a book, have to- 
day innumerable schools. Those men who were like beasts of burden, wretched as the 
reptiles that crawled among the cotton and the cane, are free men, are American citi- 
zens ; they sit in the Congress and the Senate of Washington. The United States have 
refused to recognize as members of the federation those States which have not in their 
turn recognized the liberty and equality of the negroes. 

You talk to me of exceptional laws. Many have you given to sustain the influence 
of priests and the tyranny of kings. I admit your exceptions if you will present me 
four million beasts converted into four million men. 



[Inclosure 2 in No. 121.] 

Amendment presented by Mr. Canovas del Castillo, to the twenty-first article of the 
bill for the abolition of slavery : 

" The government shall present to the Cortes, when the Cuban deputies shall have 
been admitted, a bill for the gradual and compensated emancipation of those who re- 
main in slavery after the establishment of this law." 

The government and committee accepted this amendment, omitting the word gradual. 
In answer to an objection that, in case the Cuban deputies should not arrive for the 
coming session, the government would find itself embarrassed by the terms of this 
amendment. The minister of ultramar and Mr. Canovas both replied that the Cortes 
in that case would be free to act as they thought proper in the matter. 

Amendment presented by Mr. Castelar : 

"The government shall present, at the opening of the next session, a bill for imme- 
diate emauciation. On the 1st of January, 1872, there shall remain no slave in the 
national territory." 

This amendment was rejected by a vote of 78 to 48. 



[Inclosure 3 in No 121. J 

Amendment presented by Gabriel Rodriguez and others : 

" By the present law, and pending the termination of slavery in Cuba and Porto 
Rico, the corporal punishments of the whip, the chain, the block, and the stocks shall 
be abolished; the sale of children without their mothers, of husbands without their 

S. Ex. Doc. 113 2 



18 EMANCIPATION OP SLAVES IN CUBA. 

wives, and vice versa, shall also be abolished. The violation of these provisions, prop- 
erly proven, shall result in the freedom of the slaves who shall have been the subjects 
of it." 

The above amendment, as modified and adopted : 

''Pending- this emancipation, the punishment of the lash, authorized by article 13 of 
the regulations of Porto Eico, and its equivalent in Cuba, is suppressed. Nor shall 
mothers be sold separately from their children who are less than fourteen years of age, 
nor shall slaves united in marriage be sold separately." 



1I.—CONSULAR AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE. 

No. 10. 
Mr. Hall to Mr. Seward. — (Received November 27.) 

No. 82.] Matanzas, November 18, 1868. 

I am mainly indebted to a Cuban gentleman, of conservative political 
opinions, for the statements contained in this communication in refer- 
ence to the extraordinary events at present transpiring in this island, 
and the opinions prevailing in this locality. 

As far as my own information extends, these sentiments are impartial 
and reliable. The belief that they may prove of interest in the present 
emergency induces me to communicate them to the department : 

The news of the late revolution in Spain was received here with surprise, and no 
little enthusiasm, by the native Cubans and many Spanish liberals ; the Cubans thought 
they could discern the dawn of a new era, and a radical change of Spanish policy in 
the government of this island, a feature full of hope for the cause of liberty and en- 
lightened progress, to be realized without resort to arms and bloodshed. 

The excitement caused by the information first received soon passed away, and pub- 
lic attention became fixed upon the institution of slavery, and the course likely to be 
adopted by the Madrid government in regard to it. Naturally, every shade of opinion 
has been expressed, from the extreme radical — in favor of its immediate abolition — to 
the propagandist, devoted to maintaining and perpetuating the institution. 

The diversity of opinion in regard to slavery is worthy of notice; the more intelli- 
gent of the Cubans, including a small number of slaveholders, are in favor of imme- 
diate abolition ; they contend that it is not only an obligation due to justice and 
humanity, but a measure of sound policy that would be attended with less danger to 
the peace and good order of the island than others of prospective emancipation ; that 
it would obviate all inducement to insurrection on the part of the blacks, and that 
any perturbation of the present system of labor could bo easily arranged without ma- 
terially reducing the productions of the island. 

They claim, too, that the African slave trade will only finally and definitely cease 
with the unconditional abolition of slavery in the island, where, alone, it meets with 
any encouragement. 

They believe that, while slavery exists, there will be no government established 
here in which they can have a voice ; that the island will continue to be governed by 
a repressive, censorious system, under pretext of preserving order ; in other words, the 
forcible submission of the blacks, to the exclusion of all the rights and privileges of 
tree government. 

The generality of slave owners, Cubans as well as Spaniards, favor a plan of eman- 
cipation that will extinguish the institution in ten years, all born from and after the 
date of the decree to be declared free ; they believe that by this plan the social transi- 
tion may be gradually and insensibly effected without serious injury to proprietors, 
whose interests are, or should be, considered identical with the general welfare of 
the island. This conservative class care very little about the advantages of free gov- 
ernment, as long as they arc protected in their material interests, and the immediate 
abolition of slavery is not attempted ; they believe, also, that during the proposed 
period of ten years, European emigrants may be induced to come to the island and 
adopt agricultural pursuits ; meanwhile they trust that the tranquillity of the island 
will remain unaltered and its resources developed. 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 19 

A few Cuban and many Spanish proprietors oppose all plans interfering with their 
favorite institution ; the most that they will consent to, and that with much reluct- 
ance, is a decree of freedom to all horn from and after a date yet to he fixed upon. 
This class still persists in reviving the African slave trade, to which many of them owe 
their fortunes. It is known that they have sent commissioners to Madrid to protest 
against any plan of abolition or emancipation, differing from their own, that may be 
proposed. They desire the perpetuation of slavery, under the conviction that not only 
their own prosperity depends upon it, but because the independence of the island would 
be next to an impossibility while the present system remains unchanged. With the 
loss of the island they know that Spain aud her subjects would lose the languid influ- 
ence they still maintain in the western hemisphere. 

While the whites at the clubs, in public places, and at their own houses, discuss this 
question with little reserve, the other race, free and slave, listen in silence, not a few 
of them appearing to understand the question as well as their masters. It is believed 
that, should a just and equitable system of emancipation be adopted, they will remain 
quiet; but, should other counsels prevail, their peaceable submission can hardly be 
expected. 



:no. it. 

Mr. Hall to Mr. Washburne. 

No. 4. J _ Havana, March 11, 1869. 

# * * # # * 

I have the honor to accompany herewith a copy and translation of a 
document, purporting to be a decree of the Cuban insurgents' assembly, 
abolishing slavery in this island. 



[Inclosure in No. 17.] 

[Translation.] 

The institution of slavery, introduced into Cuba by Spanish dominion, must be ex- 
tinguished along with it. The assembly of representatives of the center, having in 
view the eternal principles of justice, in the name of the liberty and the people that it 
represents, decrees : 

1. Slavery is abolished. 

2. The owners of those who have been slaves will be indemnified in due time. 

'.i. All those who by this decree obtain their freedom will contribute their efforts to 
the independence of Cuba. 

4. To this end, those who may be found apt and necessary for military service will 
enter our ranks, enjoying the same compensation and the same consideration as other 
soldiers of the liberal army. 

5. Those who are not destined to military service will continue while the war lasts 
at the same labors in which they are now employed, to preserve estates in a productive 
condition, and thus provide subsistence to those who offer their blood to the cause of 
common liberty, a duty imperative alike on all those citizens now free, of Avhatever 
race, exempt from military service. 

6. A special regulation will prescribe the details in regard to the execution of this 
decree. 

Patria y Libertad, Camagney, February 26, 1869. 

The assembly : Salvador de Cisneros, Edwardo Agramonte, Ignacio Agramonte, Fran- 
cisco Sanchez, Antonio Zambrana. 

General A. CASTILLO. 



20 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

Xo. 18. 
Mr. Plumb to Mr. Fish. 

Havana, September 16, 1869. 

****** 

I find that there was published here in the " Diario de la Marina," of 
the 14th of July last, the only version of the insurgent constitution which 

I have seen or known of appearing in the Spanish papers of the island. 

****** 

In this constitution, as so published, it appears by article 21 that "All 
the inhabitants of the republic are entirely free," and so is in harmony 
with the previous proclamations referred to in Mr. Hall's and Mr. La 
Eeintrie's dispatches. It does not appear to me to be likely that any 
other copies than that I now send of the constitution, and those sent by 
Mr. La Keintrie and Mr. Hall of the proclamations issued, can have been 
published here, that are any differently worded with reference to slav- 
ery ; for these, in the manner in which they have been procured, ap- 
pear to have been designed for circulation on the island rather than 
especially to be sent abroad. 



[Iuclosure in No. 18.] 

(Diario de la Marina. Havana, July 14. 1869. — Translation.] 

The Bandera Espaiiola, of Santiago de Cuba, publishes a curious document, which is 
said to have been found in Del Gollo street, copied on a half sheet of paper, torn at the 
creases where it had been folded, dirty and greasy. It is nothing less than the "Con- 
stitution of the Cuban Republic," and is as follows : 

"CUBAN REPUBLIC." 

" Political constitution which shall remain in force (luring the war of independence. 

"Article 1. The legislative power shall reside in a house of representatives. 

"Art. 2. Each of the four States into which the island is henceforth divided shall be 
equally represented in the house. 

"Art. 3. These States are : Oriente, Caniaguey, Las Villas, and Occideute. 

"Art. 4. Only citizens of the republic, above twenty years of age, can be represent- 
atives. 

"Art. 5. No representative can hold any other office under the republic. 

"Art. 6. When a vacancy shall occur in the representation of any State the executive 
of the same shall prescribe measures for a new election. 

" Art. 7. The house of representatives shall appoint the president, vested with the 
executive j)o\ver, the general-in-chief, the president of the sessions, and its other offi- 
cers. The general-in-chief is subordinate to the executive, and must make reports to 
him of his operations. 

" Art. 8. The following persons shall be impeached before the house of representa- 
tives, if occasion therefor arises : The president of the republic, the general-in-chief, 
and the members of the house. This impeachment may be made by any citizen ; if the 
house find it worthy of attention it shall submit the party impeached to the judicial 
power. 

"Art. 9. The house of representatives may depose at pleasure the functionaries whose 
appointment belongs to it. 

"Art. 10. The legislative enactments of the house require, in order to become valid, 
the sanction of the president. 

" Art. 11. If they do not obtain it they shall be returned to the house for further 
deliberation, wheu the objections presented by the presideut shall be considered. 

" Art 12. The president is obliged to give or refuse his approval to any law which 
shall be proposed, within ten days. 

"Art. 13. Any resolution (law) haviug been passed by the house a second time, the 
president shall be obliged to sanction it. 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 21 

" Art. 14. The following shall always be matters to be settled by law : Taxes, public 
loans, the ratification of treaties, the declaration and conclusion of war, the authoriza- 
tion of the president to grant letters of marque and reprisal, the raising and main- 
taining of troops, the providing and sustaining of a fleet, and the declaration of re- 
prisals against an enemy. 

"Art. 15. The house of representatives declares itself in permanent session from the 
moment when the representatives of the people shall ratify this fundamental law until 
the close of the war. 

" Art. 16. The executive power shall reside in the president of the republic. 

: ' Art. 17. Any one, in order to be president, must be at least thirty years of age, 
and have been born in the island of Cuba. 

" Art. 18. The president may make treaties, with the ratification of the house, i. e., 
subject to the ratification of the house. 

" Art. 19. He shall appoint ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls of the repub- 
lic in foreign countries. 

" Art. 20. He shall receive ambassadors, take care that the laws be faithfully exe- 
cuted, and send his dispatches to all officers of the republic. 

"Art. 21. The secretaries of the government (of state, &c.) shall be nominated by 
the president and appointed by the house. 

"Art. 22. The judicial power is independent; its organization shall be the object 
of a special law. 

" Art. 23. In order to become an elector the same conditions are required as in order 
to be elected. 

" Art. 24. All the inhabitants of the island are entirely free. 

" Art. 25. All citizens of the republic are considered as soldiers of the liberating 
army. 

" Art. 26. The republic recognizes no dignities, special honors, or privileges. 

"Art. 27. Citizens of the republic shall receive no honors or distinctions from a for- 
eign country. 

"Art. 28. The house cannot assail religious liberty, the freedom of the press, the 
right of petition, nor any other inalienable right of the people. 

"Art. 29. This constitution may be amended whenever the house shall unanimously 
so determine. 

" This constitution was A r oted for in the free town of Guaimaro, on the 10th of April, 
1869, by the citizens Carlos M. de Cespedes, president of the constituent assembly, and 
the citizen deputies Salvador, Cisneros, Betancourt, Francisco Sanchez, Miguel Betan- 
court Guerra, Ignacio Agramonte Ceimau, Antonio Zambrana, Jesus Rodriguez, An- 
tonio Alcala, Jose Izagnirre, Honorato Castillo, Miguel Gerouimo Gutierrez, Avindio 
Garcia, Trauquilino V aides, Antonio Lorda, and Edwardo Machado Gomez." 

The Bandera Espaiiola adds : 

" It is said to have been voted for by the citizen Carlos M. de Cespedes, (the Most 
Excellent is here -wanting ; what irreverence !) and the citizen deputies, &c. We are 
not informed, however, nor do we know, nor does any one know, where, when, or how 
the voting took place in the various towns of the island in order to elect these gentle- 
men, who, as the constitution says, are called deputies. Of what districts, of what 
departments, of what towns, are these citizen deputies the representatives? AVho 
elected them ? Who gave them the right or authority to palm themselves off upon the 
country as representing the opinion of the majority? Heaven help us! Everything 
done bv our revolutionists must be something absurd and ridiculous." 



No. 19. 
Mr. Bails to Mr. Plumb. 

Xo. 40.] Washington, September 28, 1869. 

* * * * * * * * 

We are also informed from Madrid that a decree will be projected 
forthwith for the immediate abolition of slavery, while the general 
tenor of the information from Cuba is the other way. 

It is of great importance that the department should know at an 
early date how far the news from Madrid can be depended on. You 
will," therefore, please ascertain, so far as you can do so without excit- 
ing suspicion, whether the purposes of the cabinet at Madrid in these 



22 EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 

important respects are known in Cuba, and whether they are or can be 
carried out. I need not point out to you how delicate an investigation 
this is ; how sensitive the Spanish authorities may be at even the insti- 
gation of an inquiry; how important it may be for them that the mat- 
ter should be kept a profound secret until they are ready to act ; nor 
how cautiously you must move in taking any steps under these instruc- 
tions. Indeed, I should hardly feel justified in giving you any instruc- 
tions on so delicate a subject were it not that the late public news from 
Cuba — later than any dispatches from you — seems to indicate that there 
is some movement going on under the surface which has not yet been 
made public. * * * * * * "* * 



No. 20, 
Mr. Plumb to Mr. Davis. — (Received October 29.) 

No. 193.J Havana, October 21, 1869. 

****** 

With reference to the question of slavery, I have found but one opin- 
ion here, and that is, that its abolition is now a question only of whether 
it shall be immediate, or extend over a period of, say, five or more years. 
I think the opinion is almost universal that it would be safer for all in- 
terests that the measure should be made gradual, freeing at once all 
born hereafter, and, by a system of regulated labor, accomplishing total 
emancipation within a brief term of years. 

There is also opposition to the question being touched until the depu- 
ties from this island can be heard in the Cortes regarding it, and there- 
fore a belief that it should be deferred until the insurrection shall have 
been put down. 

One of the largest, if not the largest, slaveholder on the island, in 
conversation with me some time since, stated that he would be entirely 
willing to accept abolition effected in a term of five years, and I have 
met no one yet who does not admit the measure, if accomplished in this 
manner, to be not only necessary but desirable. 

But I do not find any expression of belief in official quarters that a 
declaration of immediate, total abolition would be practicable, and I can 
hardly think the government of Spain designs to treat the question in 
that way. 

With tranquillity here, and as a measure to be accomplished within a 
period of five or eight years, I do not think the question of the abolition 
of slavery on this island would present any serious difficulties, nor would 
it, in this manner, be attended, it is believed, with any great disturbance 
of the labor or the production of the island. 

There certainly does not exist here now any extended belief in the 
possibility of the preservation of the institution, and the character of 
the present government of Spain would appear to render its early ter- 
mination certain, so far as may depend upon action from that quarter. 
By immediate abolition, as referred to in your dispatch, may be meant 
the freedom of all born after the date of the decree, as also, perhaps, 
total emancipation within a brief period. Instantaneous abolition, while 
it might, if there is tranquillity, not be so destructive to labor here as it 
is elsewhere, would yet, it is believed, create great apprehension and 
disorganization, as also political dissatisfaction. 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN CUBA. 23 

No. 21. 
Mr. Biddle to Mr. Davis.— (Received May 26.) 

No. 122.] Havana, May 20, 1870. 

I have the honor to transmit herewith, for your information, a copy 
and translation of a proclamation, dated the 14th instant, at Puerto 
Principe, and issued by Captain General de Podas, emancipating such 
slaves, belonging to insurgents and their foreign aids, who have tendered 
their services to the Spanish armies in Cuba.- 

I also transmit a copy and translation of a spirited article from the 
La Discusion, of Madrid, of April 6 ultimo, on the subject of the abo- 
lition of African slavery in Cuba, 



[IncloMure 1 in No. "20.] 
[Translation. — Official.] 

SUPERIOR POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OP THE PROVINCE OP CUBA. 

Consonantly to the information from the most excellent council of administration, 
and in exercise of the extraordinary powers with which I am invested, I decree as 
follows : 

Sole Article. All slaves belonging to persons involved in the insurrection or in 
foreign countries acting in behalf of the same, and who have taken up arms to accom- 
pany our forces, as well as those who have served as guides to the same, or given any 
other service important to the war, which may be understood or held as analogous 
with the purport of the law No. 3, chapter 22, part 4, section 4, shall be declared free. 

For the fulfillment of the above decree, the commanders of columns or the lieutenant 
governors shall avail themselves of convenient opportunity to recognize the services 
tendered by each one of these slaves, as well as the individual to whom it may con- 
cern, and to bring the same to the knowledge of the superior government for its favor- 
able consideration. 

CABALLEKO DE RODAS. 

Puerto Principe, May 14, 1870. 



[Inclosure 2 in No. 20.] 
[From the La Discusion, of Madrid, of April 26, 1870.] 

There is a party in Cuba, a party in Spain, that labors incessantly against reforms in 
our Antilles. That party is the " negro" party, the partisans of slavery, of those who 
have made immense fortunes out of the blood and sweat of their fellow-beings. They 
control the press, and would also control the government. But that party will not 
realize its purpose. Happen what may, slavery will be abolished ! Spain will not 
sustain that infamous institution that debases her in the eyes of all enlightened and 
civilized natious. 

It is clear the members of the clubs, " casinos," of Havana, Cardenas, &c, do not 
like the idea of becoming citizens of the United States ; they prefer to be our com- 
patriots as long as we will maintain slavery and their special system of government. 

Let Spain suppress slavery ; let her establish in that distant region an honest, lib- 
eral, and just administration, and then we will see how these worthy patriots, whose 
only occupation is buying aud selling their fellow-beings, will curse us. 



No. 22. 

Extract from a letter to Mr. Davis. — (Eeceived May 20.) 

Havana, May 14, 1870. 

####### 

Bank-notes are now at a depreciation of from 2J to 3 per cent., and 
gold rising in price. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



24 



EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN 




This latter is said to be caused by a very la* 915 999 818 6 ^ 
Madrid government upon the Cuban treasury, wUo are oT course buy- 
ing largely all the exchange they can get upon Europe. It is whispered 
that this draft amounts to ten millions of dollars, and that a coudition 
has been made by the Madrid government to the effect that, if said sum 
be at once provided for, nothing will be done at Madrid in furtherance 
of the proposed constitution for Porto Rico, or for the abolition of negro 
slavery in Cuba, anything to the contrary notwithstanding. 

This statement is hypothetical, but I have it from respectable au- 
thority. 






